Dartmouth Middle School students collect more than 7,000 books for GiftsToGive

Saturday

Feb 23, 2013 at 5:25 PMFeb 23, 2013 at 5:36 PM

DARTMOUTH --- Students and staff at the Dartmouth Middle School thought they'd collected a lot of books for GiftsToGive in 2010 when they collected more than 3,200 gently used books for kids and teens in one week. Then they smashed that record in 2011 by collecting more than 6,000.

Now, according to a news release from GiftsToGive, they've outdone themselves again, this time by donating 7,154 books.

The books were collected as part of the Amazing Race, a culture building Responsibility, Accountability, Respect, and Esteem (R.A.R.E. program) activity held annually at the middle school. The book drive was one aspect of the Amazing Race. Other activities included a scavenger hunt, and a building activity involving only straws, the release said.

The book drive was held throughout the week leading up to the Amazing Race held on Jan. 18, the release said. For every five books students brought in, their homeroom received one point toward the Amazing Race.

The book drive, coordinated by librarian Laura Gardner, quickly got competitive, especially between rival homerooms in the school, the release said. In the end, Carolyn Wingate's homeroom collected the most books — 712 — 10 percent of the total!

“It's really exciting to focus that competitive spirit on something positive like this. Daily announcements on who was in the lead really inspired kids to bring in more books,” Gardner said in a statement. “Many of the books that were donated are in near perfect condition; I couldn't be happier about the outcome.”

All the books have been delivered to GiftsToGive in New Bedford where they will be sorted by age level and distributed to school libraries in SouthCoast Public Schools and also to children from families in need.